Saturday, 1 February 2014

The
death of a student from India’s north –east in Delhi raises disturbing
questions about regional integration and racial profiling.

Nido Taniam has been killed. He was beaten
mercilessly by the “locals’ in South Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar, a popular residential
area for students and migrants from India’s north-east.

Was his death an act of racism? Or, an
altercation that went out of control leading to his death?

The mainstream and the social media are
swarming with messages of protest over the death of young student from
Arunachal Pradesh. Many see it purely a racist attack and are organizing
rallies to demand swift police investigation. The unfortunate incident has
ratcheted the thorny issues of racism in regard to India’s oriental looking
citizens living in other parts of the country.

Let’s step aside from bigger issues of
policy, politics and militancy that always forms the core of debate whenever
north-east is discussed, and focus for while what brews tensions when people
from the north-east and “locals” live side by side.

Apart from the students, Delhi has seen a
huge influx of people from the north- east, Darjeeling and Nepal over the last
decade. Many of them with basic education have found jobs in the retail sector
and the call centers. Many more are now
employed with restaurants and work as security guards.

Almost unseen to an outsider and sandwiched
between posh neighborhoods of South Delhi is Munirka village. It provides affordable accommodation to
thousands of students, young professionals and other migrants from the
north-east. It's crowded, cosmopolitan and is bustling with small businesses. Many
of them have opened small businesses here. Small rooms have been turned into
chapels.

Raju, one the local landlords, who is a Jat,
tells me how Munirka village has transformed in last 15 years. He says when the
oriental looking people first arrived, the locals thought they were from Korea
or Japan. 'We had no idea such people existed in India’! He admits that
landlords have benefited because of people from the north- east house rent has gone spiraling.

Raju says, “ I have no problem in renting out
rooms to them as long as they don’t create trouble and are well behaved.” But
there are issues: there is a cultural clash and some locals feel their lifestyles are
‘immoral’ and they bring in foreign (western) culture.“We don’t want our children to be influenced
by them”, says another landlord who has stopped renting rooms to people from
Manipur. She assumes all people from the region to be Manipuris!

It is also true that many from northeast promote
cultural values that they might not necessary practice back home. Deepak is from Darjeeling works in a retail shop. He tells me about the deliberate and
arrogant attempt by the some young people from the north-east to show that they
are different. He says, “many keep to themselves, and that creates a problem.”

For those who understand the north-east would
know that there is not much cultural assimilation in the region, but when
students travel to other parts of the country, they unite under one banner and
assert themselves as “north eastern”.

Once in Delhi, they increasingly find
difficult to get along with the local mainstream cultures. Regional sentiments
run high. They complain of racism when referred as ‘chinkis’.

Group fights are a regular phenomenon amongst
those who resort to hooliganism in university hostels and in residential areas,
and in many instances they are more about personal issues, which can have fatal
fallout.

But why this alienation amongst students who
are young and have an opportunity to do well?

First of all not much have been done to
facilitate the acceptance of people from the northeast in the local societies.
It’s not easy given the conservatism that already hounds the local communities. The
government has to educate the people through community building programmes and
tell that people from the north-east are also Indians.

Universities and boarding schools must adopt
programmes to integrate students from different states. It has to be a part of
induction and fresher’s day parties, and any regionalism mustn’t be tolerated.
A robust mechanism involving students from various backgrounds needs to be put
in place to fight any sort of racial abuse in educational institutions. Police should be sensitized.

Also, students from the north -east should
try to develop broader national outlook and get over with petty regional issues
and divisive ideologies.North-east also
has a lot of successful people, they need to serve as ambassadors to promote
harmony and talk to students from the region.

Finally, the media mustn’t act responsibly
and not prematurely see the attack on Nido Taniam as a hate crime.Whist his killers must be brought to justice,
but raking the issue as a hate crime will only create further rift and mistrust
between communities which is not desired.